Apindo to continue court battle against decree on minimum wage

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Employers' Association of Indonesia (Apindo) will proceed with its judicial effort to have the minimum wage decree issued by the Jakarta administration revoked despite a court's recent decision in favor of the provincial administration.

The association made the statement following a report in The Jakarta Post on Friday, which was based on a report from Detik.com, and quotes Suparwanto, a senior official of Apindo, as saying that the association had agreed to implement the minimum wage as stipulated in the decree.

Apindo's vice president Djimanto denied the report, saying the association was still pursuing its lawsuit to revoke the Jakarta Gubernatorial Decree No. 3052/2001 which raises the minimum wage for the Jakarta area to Rp 591,262 (about US$60) per month from Rp 421,000 at present.

The association has filed the lawsuit with the State Administrative Court in Jakarta, which, on Dec. 13, last year, issued an injunction delaying the implementation of the gubernatorial decree.

But, the Jakarta administration appealed the injunction.

The same court decided on Wednesday last week to lift the injunction, ordering all companies in Jakarta to implement the decree pending the final decision by the court on the matter.

Following the court's decision, Djimanto said, Apindo has told its members to negotiate on the minimum wage with unions at the plant level.

"Apindo is okaying the minimum wage in the sense that it can be decided on by employers and trade unions at plant level," Djimanto said.

He stated that the association was still firm in its opinion that the new minimum wage would create serious problems for the businesses of its members, especially in view of the government's plan to raise electricity and telephone charges and fuel prices this month.